SPENDING A SUNDAY IN THE STADIUM BOWL WITH EVERYONE >>>

Editor's note: Chiara Wood, co-owner of The Turning Point Integrated Therapies on Tacoma's Sixth Aevnue, and an activist with Catherine's Place, Women in Black, and about 50 other organizations and charities attended the Pierce County Sings event Sunday in the Stadium High School bowl. What follows is her thoughts on the event.

What a great, sunny-with-a-chance-of-rain, Northwest day to gather for Pierce County Sings - an event sponsored by The Greater Tacoma Community Foundation as part of the organization's efforts to bring greater awareness to issues of community, hope and nonviolence.

Pierce County residents, students wearing school colors, families, anyone who wanted to be a part of "History In The Making" were invited to participate.  We'd be singing John Legend's "If You're Out There," and making a professional music video to be premiered at "Be the Spark" when Archbishop Desmond Tutu comes to visit Tacoma as a keynote speaker, May 13, 2011 at the Tacoma Dome. GTCF's Be the Spark - a movement focused on mutual respect, nonviolence and hope - contains four different strategies built on the "4 truths": 1) Create a Youth Against Violence Endowment Fund directed by area youth who've been impacted by violence; 2) Continue and expand High School Dialogues on youth violence; 3) Engage the community through Pierce County Sings; 4) Engage and inspire community to action through Archbishop Tutu's visit.

The video crew and equipment were set up and ready to go as folks trickled into Stadium Bowl, guided to sit on the damp concrete bleachers with the towering brick school above and behind for scenic drama.

Staging and first "takes" of the song were going on as people arrived.  The sky darkened and the "Hey, that was great ... now let's just do it again" easiness of the director became a more urgent "Let's get this done."  The cloud burst across the bay was sloshing its way to the bowl.

Rose Lincoln Hamilton, executive director of TGTCF, stressed that the reason for the video was a call to action for each of us to play a role in making our community better. 

Chaira Wood

I showed up at Stadium Bowl because I thought it sounded like fun.  It was fun - like being an extra in a scene of a movie, outside in the cold and damp, doing the same thing over and over with no idea what the whole picture will look like.  I showed up because I am an activist in love with the 253.  I showed up to sing the song, which I did on the way to the Bowl and the way home. I like the forward thinking and heart-centered personal responsibility for changing the world that John Legend's song promotes. 

Pierce County lending its intentions and focus in a positive direction ... is all good.